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The Daoist Mystical Body The Daoist Mystical Body Louis Komjathy S Pecii
The Daoist Mystical Body The Daoist Mystical Body Louis Komjathy S Pecii
S
pecific Daoist adherents and communities emphasize the importance
of corporeality and physicality, specifically one’s body as the Dao as
sacred locale. But the “Daoist body,” as those who are familiar with
the work of such influential scholars as Kristofer Schipper, Livia Kohn, and
Catherine Despeux know, is multidimensional. It is not simply the ana-
tomical and physiological given of contemporary biomedicine. In the case
of certain Daoist movements, one’s body is understood to have subtle, eso-
teric dimensions that become activated through Daoist religious praxis.
Here the body itself becomes the means through which the Dao manifests
its own self-unfolding, and the means by which the Daoist adept experi-
ences the Dao as numinous presences. This is what I mean by the “Daoist
mystical body.”
Daoist views of the human body that form the basis of the present dis-
cussion thus problematize ideas of “the body” as a static, immutable given,
pointing rather to the way in which different bodies/selves are encountered
and enacted in different sociohistorical and religio-cultural contexts. It is
noteworthy that specific Daoist practices simultaneously recognize the
importance of “material” bodily constituents (organs, fluids, etc.) and
“energetic” or “divine” dimensions. The importance of the body in certain
forms of Daoist religious praxis may thus represent a previously unacknowl-
edged form of mysticism, namely, “somatic mysticism” (see Komjathy
2007). Here the “sacred” is experienced in/as/through one’s own body,
although what that body is deserves careful study.
Before discussing specific aspects of the Daoist mystical body, a few com-
ments are in order regarding Daoist “theology” and comparative categories.
First, I use “theology” as a critical comparative category, specifically in the more
givens” as well as the metaphors through which the body and its constituents
are understood often differ.11 So when one sees the body as a “machine,”
one may come to believe that “parts” can be removed and (sometimes)
replaced without any lasting disruption. However, if one sees the body as a
“country” or “universe,” one may recognize the interrelationship and inter-
dependence among its “inhabitants.” It is also possible that philosophical
reflection on and body-based practices employing alternative body-self
models may reveal and/or actualize other aspects of human being.12
The study of self in Asian contexts13 begs the question of the relation
between “self,” “body,” “consciousness,” and “mind.” There can be little
doubt that the idea of a disembodied, metaphysical mind, so often assumed
in philosophical contexts indebted to Rene Descartes’ (1596–1650) notion
of res cogitans (ego-self as “thinking thing”),14 is absent from classical
Chinese and Daoist views of self. However, is “self ” synonymous with body
in Chinese cultural and religious traditions? Expressed differently, when the
body dies, does personal identity cease? In a Chinese context, this issue
relates to further questions concerning death, dying as well as the afterlife,
and immortality, in particular.
The relationship between Chinese views of self and body is discussed in
Roger T. Ames’ contribution to Self as Body in Asian Theory and Practice.15
Ames argues that in classical Chinese philosophy “person” (“self ”) is prop-
erly regarded as a “psychosomatic process.” According to Ames, Chinese
views of self, generally speaking, emphasize “polarism” over “dualism.” “By
‘polarism,’ I am referring to a symbiosis: the unity of two organismic pro-
cesses which require each other as a necessary condition for being what they
are,”16 and, “When we combine the process ontology of the early Chinese
tradition with its polar conception of the psychical [heart-mind/spirit] and
physical [body], it would appear that ‘person’ was seen holistically as a psy-
chosomatic process.”17 Ames in turn suggests that there are three senses of
“body” in classical Chinese philosophy, as expressed in three technical
Chinese terms. First, shen 身, possibly a pictograph of the human physique,
seems to be used most frequently to refer to one’s entire psychosomatic
process. In passages where shen as “self ” refers to the physical body, it is
one’s “lived body” seen from within rather than “body as corpse” seen from
without.18 The second character relating to Chinese notions of “body” is
xing 形, which is the “form” or “shape,” the three-dimensional disposition
or configuration of the human process. Xing-form has a morphological
rather than genetic or schematic nuance.19 Finally, a third character desig-
nating “body” is ti 體, which relates to “physical structure” said to be a
“combination of twelve groups” or parts. Ti-physical structure relates to the
scalp, face, chin, shoulders, spine, abdomen, upper arms, lower arms, hands,
The Daoist Mystical Body ● 71
classical Daoism (from the fourth to the second century BCE), in the inner
cultivation lineages of the Warring States (480–222 BCE) and Early
Han (206 BCE–9 CE).32 For example, according to Chapter 12 of the
Zhuangzi,
There are five conditions under which innate nature is lost. First, the five
colors confuse the eyes and cause vision to be unclear. Second, the five sounds
confuse the ears and cause hearing to be unclear. Third, the five smells stimu-
late the nose and produce weariness and congestion in the forehead. Fourth,
the five flavors dull the mouth and cause taste to be impaired and lifeless. Fifth,
likes and dislikes unsettle the heart-mind and cause the innate nature to
become unstable and disturbed. These five are all a danger to life.33
to as “inner vision” (neishi ).35 This practice involves turning the light of the
eyes, the corporeal sun and moon, inward. The combined “spirit radiance”
(shenguang) of the eyes then illuminates the body as inner landscape. In
terms of aurality, internal alchemy emphasizes the activation of the subtle
body. Here one listens to a deeper layer of one’s being, specifically the sub-
tle movement of qi throughout the organ-meridian system and throughout
the world and cosmos. This is the “Daoist mystical body” that forms the
centerpiece of the present chapter.
There is thus a more esoteric and mystical Daoist view that centers on
subtle listening, a listening that does not involve actual aurality. This subtle
and deep listening, sometimes referred to with technical terms like “mysteri-
ous perception” (xuanlan), involves qi as the deeper layer of one’s being and
of all existence. It is a listening to the subtle dimensions of life, being atten-
tive to the energetic qualities of each being and situation. In terms of the
later Daoist tradition, it involves the activation of the subtle body, and liv-
ing through spirit. Interestingly, this mystical being and energetic attentive-
ness is described as “listening to the inaudible,” “teaching without words,”
and “listening to the stringless music.” There is an invisible composition
and sonata occurring each moment, and one can train oneself to hear it.
One can thus exist in greater degrees of dissonance or consonance, of distor-
tion or harmonization. Such a condition may occur on the level of innate
nature, interpersonal relationships, community, society, world, and cosmos.
From a Daoist perspective, this is ultimately about the degree to which one
is in attunement with the Dao as sacred. It is about one’s being and pres-
ence, about one’s connection with the Dao and the Daoist tradition. For
Daoists, such a connection and commitment may allow one to transmit the
Dao (chuandao): “As for one who can awaken to this [clarity and stillness],
that one is able to transmit the sacred Dao.”36
Before moving on to specific examples of Daoist somatic mysticism, of
experiences of the Daoist mystical body, I would like to point out one addi-
tional characteristic of the Daoist tradition that may be unfamiliar to readers
of the present book. This is the Daoist practice of mapping the Daoist body
through diagrams and illustrations. Specifically, the Daoist religious tradition
includes a variety of fascinating body maps. As contained in the Ming-
dynasty Daoist Canon, Daoists began documenting the above-mentioned
views of the body through diagrams and illustrations. Tentatively speaking,
the earliest of these “Daoist body maps” were composed in the early medieval
period (the third to seventh CE), in the context of Highest Clarity commu-
nities. However, Daoists continued to create and commission such corporeal
diagrams throughout Chinese history, and many of the illustrations were
used as prompts or visual aides for Daoist meditation practice.37
76 ● Louis Komjathy 康思奇
body. The sacred may be experienced in/as/through one’s own anatomy and
physiology, though the Daoist corporeal landscape includes hidden water-
courses and nonspatial caverns.
Before moving on to the specific Daoist content of this chapter, two
additional points should be made. First, some theological positions are
complementary (e.g., panenhenism and somaticism), while others are con-
tradictory or oppositional (e.g., atheism and monotheism). Second, outside
of tradition-specific theologies, the dominant assumed theology is monistic,
especially in the form of Perennial Philosophy or New Age spirituality. This
is often the case in academic discourse about religion as well as in scientific
discourse concerning the universe. That is, reality is assumed to be singular,
rather than pluralistic, in nature.
For Daoists throughout Chinese history, the Dao, translatable as “the
Way” and “a way,” has been identified as the sacred and ultimate concern. As
expressed in classical Daoism, in the inner cultivation lineages of the Warring
States period (480–222 BCE), and from a foundational Daoist theological
perspective, the Dao has four primary characteristics: (1) Source; (2) Unnamable
mystery; (3) All-pervading sacred presence (qi); and (4) Cosmological process
that is the universe (“Nature”).39 The primary Daoist theology is, in turn,
monistic, panentheistic, and panenhenic; the secondary Daoist theology is
animistic and polytheistic. Conventionally speaking, earlier inquires into
Daoism, influenced by Christian views, have often unknowingly privileged
the monistic side, while denigrating the polytheistic side.40 This has been
expressed in the Western construction and historical fiction of so-called philo-
sophical Daoism and religious Daoism (sometimes appearing as “magical” or
“folk Daoism”), the use of which should be taken ipso facto as evidence of
inaccuracy and misunderstanding.41 In fact, as discussed briefly below, classi-
cal Daoist monistic theological views entail and frequently identify polythe-
istic elements. In any case, knowledge of foundational Daoist theological
views is essential for our inquiry into the Daoist mystical body and somatic
mystical experience.
According to the fourth-century BCE Daode jing (Scripture on the Dao
and Inner Power),42
And
Master Dongguo asked Zhuangzi, “Where does one find the Dao?”
Zhuangzi said, “There’s no place it doesn’t exist.”
“Come on,” said Master Dongguo, “Be more specific!”
“It’s in these ants.”
“As low as that?”
“It’s in the grasses.”
“But that’s even lower.”
“It’s in those tiles and shards.”
80 ● Louis Komjathy 康思奇
1. Palace of the Hall of Light (mingtang gong), located above the area
between the two eyebrows and one inch (cun) in.
2. Palace of the Grotto Chamber (dongfang gong), located two inches in.
3. Palace of the Elixir Field (dantian gong), located three inches in. This
palace is sometimes also called Niwan, literally meaning “mud-ball,”
but possibly a transliteration of nirvana.
4. Palace of the Flowing Pearl (liuzhu gong), located four inches in.
86 ● Louis Komjathy 康思奇
5. Palace of the Jade Thearch (yudi gong), located five inches in.
6. Palace of the Celestial Court (tianting gong), located one inch above
the Hall of Light.
7. Palace of Secret Perfection (jizhen gong), located one inch above the
Grotto Chamber.
8. Palace of the Mysterious Elixir (xuandan gong), located one inch above
the Elixir Field. This palace is sometimes also called Niwan.
9. Palace of the Great Sovereign (taihuang gong), located one inch above
the Flowing Pearl.58
Each palace is also associated with a specific god, and each god also occupies
a corresponding external sacred realm in the complex, multidimensional
Highest Clarity cosmology. The first four palaces are inhabited by male dei-
ties, while the last five are inhabited by female ones. For example, the Palace
of the Celestial Court is inhabited by the Perfect Mother of Highest Clarity
(shangqing zhenmu). Other texts also provide details on the color and style of
their clothing as well as their specific appearance. As Isabelle Robinet has
commented, “These nine cavities or palaces are only inhabited by deities if
one practices the visualization exercise. Otherwise they remain vacant. The
implication of this is that the visualization of these deities is, at the same time,
their actualization” (1993, 127). Before stepping away from the mystical body
in early Highest Clarity Daoism, I would note that the accessing of these
cranial locations also leads to a mystical encounter with various deities in the
Highest Clarity pantheon. One way of reading the Nine Palaces is that they
are actual portals into the cosmos, into Daoist sacred realms. Such gods and
their corresponding sacred realms simultaneously exist in the larger cosmos
and the adept’s own body. They can, in turn, be accessed in/as/through one’s
own corporeality. Here the brain contains a nonspatial or hyperspatial dimen-
sion—by assessing the Nine Palaces, which extend progressively inward,
deeper, and beyond, one opens mystical spaces within the body.
Patterned on heaven and symbolizing earth, inhaling yin and exhaling yang,
your body shares in the Five Phases and accords with the four seasons. The
eyes are the sun and moon. The hair is the stars and the planets. The eye-
brows are the Flowery Canopy (huagai) [Cassiopeia]. The head is Mount
Kunlun. A network of palaces and passes, the body serves to keep essence
and spirit at peace.
Among the myriad beings, humans have the most numinosity. With
innate nature and life-destiny merged with the Dao, humans can preserve
[this numinosity] by internally observing (neiguan) the body.
(Ibid., 3a–3b)62
Here one notes the body as microcosm and internal landscape. Through
the practice of inner observation, closely associated with visualization meth-
ods, the Daoist adept becomes a cosmologically infused and mystically trans-
formed being. Paralleling the above-mentioned Highest Clarity encounter
with the multiple layers of somatic numinosity, the Daoist adept practicing
neiguan emerges from the practice to discover cosmic interpenetration—one’s
body contains the landscape and universe, and the landscape and universe is
88 ● Louis Komjathy 康思奇
one’s body.63 In terms of the place of the senses in religious traditions and
mystical experience, Daoist inner observation places primary emphasis on
vision, and specifically the eyes as vessels of light. As the corporeal sun and
moon, the combined light of the eyes, referred to as “spirit radiance”
(shenguang) or “divine illumination” (shenming), can be turned inward to
illumine the inner landscape of the human body.
The final aspect of the Daoist mystical body that I would like to mention
is the place of vital substances and physiology in Song-dynasty internal
alchemy lineages. In order to complete alchemical transformation, late-
medieval Daoists sought to refine the various aspects of self into a pure or
transcendent spirit. Here it is noteworthy that alchemical transformation
focuses on the conservation of fluids and actual physiological processes: the
internal alchemist needs the body’s vital substances (vital essence, fluids, blood,
and so forth) to create the elixir of immortality. One can actually chart this
process in terms of classical Chinese medical theory.64 Alchemical transforma-
tion takes place inside the body; the body is required for internal alchemy;
and the completion of neidan praxis incorporates every somatic aspect.
Titled “Neijing tu” (Inner Landscape Map), this diagram is contained in
the Nanjing zuantu jujie (Phrase-by-Phrase Glosses of the Classic of
Difficulties; DZ 1024) by a certain Li Jiong (fl. 1269). Although conven-
tionally categorized as a “medical text,”65 this text is preserved in the Daoist
Canon, incorporates earlier Daoist materials, and clearly influenced later
Daoist body maps (see Needham et. al 1983; Despeux 1994; Komjathy
2008; 2009). As documented in this diagram, there is substantial overlap
between “medical” and “alchemical” views. Most importantly for the pres-
ent discussion, this “Inner Landscape Map” identifies the Nine Palaces in
the head, the Three Passes along the spine, as well as the movement of vital
essence (jing) and qi from the base of the spine to the head. The latter
practice is referred to as “reverting essence to repair the brain” (huanjing
bunao), and it is often combined in a larger, stage-based process of alchemi-
cal transformation. In such systems, the Daoist adept transforms vital
essence into qi. This qi is then circulated through the Waterwheel (heche),
also known as the Lesser Celestial Cycle (xiao zhoutian; a.k.a. Microcosmic
Orbit),66 during which one connects the Governing and Conception
Vessels, the meridians on the back and front centerlines of the body, respec-
tively. Here one finds a clear depiction of the activation of the subtle,
energetic dimensions of the human body.
There are various late-medieval neidan texts relevant for studying the
Daoist mystical body, many of which incorporate the earlier Highest Clarity
visualization and Daoist neiguan practices already discussed. Here I will be
content to focus on the tenth-century Chuandao ji (Anthology of
Transmitting the Dao; DZ 263, j. 14–16), one of the most influential early
Zhong-Lü texts.67 The last section of the text, titled “Lun zhengyan” (On
Experiential Confirmation/Signs of Proof ), informs the Daoist adept that
specific training regimens may result in specific types of experiences. After
one conserves vital essence, opens the body’s meridians, and generates saliva,
one begins a process of self-rarification and self-divinization. At the most
advanced stages of alchemical transformation, one becomes free of karmic
obstructions and entanglements, and one’s name becomes registered in the
records of the Three Purities. The embryo of immortality (taixian) matures,
which includes the ability to manifest as the body-beyond-the-body
(shenwai shen) and have greater communion with celestial realms. After the
adept’s bones begin to disappear and become infused with golden light
(jinguang), he or she may receive visitations from divine beings. This process
of experiential confirmation is said to culminate as follows:
In a solemn and grand ceremony, you will be given the purple writ of the
celestial books and immortal regalia. Immortals will appear on your left and
right, and you will be escorted to Penglai. You will have audience with the
Perfect Lord of Great Tenuity in the Purple Palace. Here your name and place
of birth will be entered into the registers. According to your level of accom-
plishment, you will be given a dwelling-place on the Three Islands. Then you
may be called a Perfected (zhenren) or immortal (xianzi).”68
90 ● Louis Komjathy 康思奇
Notes
1. While the Warring States period (475–221 BCE) is often read as a time of
proto-rationalism (e.g., by A. C. Graham and Benjamin Schwartz), more work
needs to be done on its religio-cultural characteristics. See, for example, Harold
Roth, Original Tao: Inward Training (Nei-yeh) and the Foundations of Taoist
Mysticism (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999).
2. On this distinction, see Roland Fisher, “A Cartography of the Ecstatic and
Meditative States,” in Understanding Mysticism, ed. Richard Woods (Garden City,
The Daoist Mystical Body ● 93
35. See Livia Kohn, “Taoist Insight Meditation: The Tang Practice of Neiguan,” in
Taoist Meditation and Longevity Techniques (Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese
Studies, University of Michigan, 1989), ed. Livia Kohn, 191–222.
36. Qingjing jing, DZ 620, 2a.
37. For some examples of these various illustrations, see Needham et al., Science
and Civilisation; Despeux, Taoïsme et corps humain; Komjathy, “Mapping the
Daoist Body.”
38. Of course, historically speaking, Catholic theologies are probably the most
developed and systematic, though that is changing in the contemporary period
with a more transdenominational Christian theology and with the emergence
of comparative theology. See, for example, David Tracy, “Comparative Theology,”
in The Encyclopedia of Religion, ed. Lindsay Jones (Detroit, MI: Macmillan,
2005), 9125–34.
39. A close reading of classical Daoist texts such as the Daode jing, Zhuangzi, as
well as sections of the Guanzi, Huainanzi, and Lüshi chunqiu provides evidence
for each of these characteristics.
40. This is generally true of most scholarship before the emergence of Daoist
Studies from the 1960s onward. It is intricately tied to traditional Confucian
prejudices, European and Japanese colonialism, Christian missionization, and
Orientalism, which is the heir of the previous three. Such interpretations of
Daoism generally privilege and provide selective readings of classical Daoist
texts and mischaracterize classical Daoism as a “proto-rationalistic” or
“philosophical” tradition. More recently, one finds appropriative agendas within
American hybrid spirituality to identify classical Daoism as “spiritual” or part
of some “universal wisdom tradition.”
41. For more recent revisionist work, see Roth, Original Tao; Russell Kirkland,
Taoism: The Enduring Tradition (London and New York: Routledge, 2004).
42. Unless otherwise indicated, all translations are my own. Catalogue numbers for
Daoist textual collections follow Louis Komjathy, Title Index to Daoist Collections
(Cambridge, MA: Three Pines Press, 2002). Numbers for the Ming-dynasty
canon parallel Kristofer Schipper et al.’s earlier index. For a survey of its contents,
see Kristofer Schipper and Franciscus Verellen, ed., The Taoist Canon: A Historical
Companion to the Daozang (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004).
43. I have rendered this line and the subsequent ones as referring to a cosmogonic
process. They may also be read as a description of the present cosmological
epoch. That is, they simultaneously refer to an unrepresentable and irretrievable
before and an immediately accessible dimension of the present.
44. These lines are noteworthy for using different Chinese characters that refer to
types of names. They contain ming, one’s personal name given by one’s parents,
and zi, one’s nickname given by oneself or one’s associates. Read from a more
technical perspective, the passage suggests that no one can know the former
with respect to what is ultimately real. Instead, Chinese Daoists provided a
provisional designation of dao, a Chinese character referring to “way” or “path.”
That is, ultimately dao is a placeholder for ——, which is formless, unnamable,
98 ● Louis Komjathy 康思奇
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